The place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities

Studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the place of social intelligence in a taxonomy of cognitive abilities. An investigation is described in which measures of social behaviors obtained from interviews were related to a wide variety of cognitive variables. Significant relations were rare. It is suggested that the question to be posed is not the simple one of the place of social intelligence in the cognitive domain but rather one of the relationships of the elements of two large taxonomic systems. A Taxonomy of social intelligence would provide a set of definitions procedures that would improve efforts to replicate and build on previous research. More important would be the heuristic value of a structural representation of “social intelligence” based on theoretical relationships involving environmental, physiological, and genetic as well as psychological factors. Development of a taxonomy of situations would facilitate the study of interactions involving performance and environmental conditions.     

A moving video window or mask yoked to eye movements: A system to permit free ocular scanning within delimited areas of the visual field

A system is described for generating a video window or mask that is yoked to a subject’s eye movements and that can be used to mask off either the left or the right visual field, while still permitting prolonged examination of simple or complex visual stimuli. It can also be used to simulate various visual field defects or scotomata and to ensure that subjects maintain fixation during extended stimulus presentations. Circuitry is provided, and two additional options are suggested.     

Dimensions of children's classroom social behavior: A factor analytic investigation

Dimensions of children's classroom social behavior were investigated using the Social Behavior Assessment (SBA), a 136-item teacher rating scale (Stephens, T. M.Social Behavior Assessment. Columbus, Ohio: Cedars Press, 1979). Six relatively independent factors were identified as dimensions of children's classroom social behavior: Academic Responsibility, Social Responsibility, Cooperation, Compliance, Adaptive Behavior, and Participation. These six factors accounted for over two-thirds of the variance in teacher ratings and do not correspond with Stephens' (1979) original categorization. Consistent with past research, teachers appeared to consider those academic-related social skills associated with classroom order and control particularly salient. Directions for future research and recommendations concerning multifactored assessment of children's social skills are discussed.     

Poison-based avoidance learning with flavored or colored water in guinea pigs

Guinea pigs were fed a solution which had a distinctive taste or appearance and one hr later were made sick by an intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride. Upon recovery from the effects of sickness the animals in Expt 1 showed aversions to a weak tasting, sour solution or to a strong tasting, sweet solution. Animals in Expt 2 formed aversions to tap water which had been colored either red or blue while those in Expt 3 formed aversions to tap water which had been presented in either red or blue drinking tubes. When, however, sickness was not contingent upon drinking a distinctive solution there was no sign of decreased consumption of the test solutions. The differences between the outcome of the Expts 2 and 3 and those typically found with rats can be explained by the fact that guinea pigs appear to use both taste and visual cues in food selection whereas rats primarily use only gustatory cues. Since vision in the guinea pig is no more acute than vision in rats and substantially more limited than vision in other animals who have formed aversions to visual cues, the results of Expts 2 and 3 also suggest that the ability to form poison-based aversions to visual cues is not totally dependent upon a highly developed visual system.     

When what is said is important: A comparison of expert and attractive sources

Ninety-eight female subjects were presented with a statement made by an attractive or an expert source suggesting that people should sleep less than the usual eight hours. For approximately half of the subjects the source gave a simple statement of opinion, for the other half six separate supporting arguments were also presented. As predicted the manipulation of number of arguments provided had more influence on the effectiveness of the expert than the attractive source. Results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that quite different dynamics underly the persuasive power of attractive and expert individuals.     

Subjective duration: A functional measurement analysis

Subjects judged the total duration of two intervals of time that varied from 0 to 30 sec. The data obeyed the parallelism prediction of a simple weighted adding model. According to functional measurement methodology, this observed parallelism provides joint support for the adding model and for the assumption that the graphic rating response provides a valid interval scale. Furthermore, parallelism allowed construction of the psychophysical time function. The obtained function was essentially linear in the range 0-30 sec. This result is compared with results of previous studies, with particular regard to the method of fractionation. The usefulness of establishing a validated interval response measure for further studies of time perception was pointed out.     

Signal frequency and shock probability as determinants of prolonged vigilance performance in rhesus monkeys

The effects of changing signal frequency on a prolonged vigilance task were investigated by systematically increasing the average inter-trial interval between successive signals. During a 6-hr watch, vigilance performance remained constant when the rate of signal presentation was 40, 20, and 10 per hour. When the rate of signal presentation was reduced to 7 or 4 per hour, marked decrements in detection performance were observed. Similar vigilance decrements occurred when the average rate of signals per hour was kept constant (10 per hour) and the probability of receiving a shock for missing a signal was systematically varied. The results of this study indicate the importance of reinforcement factors in the control and maintenance of vigilance performance.